“We negotiated long and hard for many, many meetings. We talked from a one-year contract to a longer-term contract,” Poile said. “As they say, ‘Why didn’t you get it done?’ Well, we just couldn’t quite agree on the term, the length or the structure. We just didn’t get it done. From our standpoint, that is a little disappointing. We would certainly like the certainty of our captain signed to a long-term contract, but that’s not to say he’s not going to. It offers us a challenge. It certainly keeps me and the rest of our organization focused with our eye on the ball and what we have to do.”

Added Weber: “It is nice to get this arbitration process out of the way here for now and hopefully this can lead to further negotiations between my agents and the Predators and hopefully we can get something long term. For now, a one-year deal is done and I’m excited to get ready for the season.”

They speculated on NHL radio this morning that he’d likely be playing somewhere else before the season ended. The thinking being that Nashville won’t be able to afford him anymore and that Weber would probably rather play for a team that is in a position to win a Cup. So, they’d probably entertain trade offers to get something in return for him instead of going through this whole thing again just to keep him for one more year before he goes UFA.

Wow…Kevin Epp, his agent, is the kind of hard bargainer that tends to earn his clients big paydays…it’ll be interesting to find out whether the Predators can sell him on a long term deal or whether he’ll be moved at the deadline…

A little more than I expected though for a player of Weber’s calibre it’s worth it. I wonder if the Preds will entertain trade offers before the season begins now that they know for a certainty Weber will cost them more than they want to pay.

in the context of the ridiculous contracts free agent D’s were getting this year, this may even be low for Weber considering he was easily the best D man up for a contract. If Wiz is going to get 5.5, albeit for the Jackets, only 2 mill more for Weber might be a steal.

If only there was some team out there with cap space left at the trade deadline…

Posted by
deezer
on 08/03/11 at 04:28 PM ET

If I weren’t already rooting for a division rival (who likely won’t be a division rival anymore after this season) to fail and end up way out of the playoff race, the concept of the Predators having to sell at the deadline is just more hope than even the widest of my pipes can dream.

wow, that is a big number… he is worth it but still is a big number. Not really sure what the preds game plan is at this point. Maybe they trade him to a team for a bunch of prospects and picks… but it is still a lot for a team to take on at 7.5 million no matter how good a player he is.

unfortunately, while Weber would make a great Wing and we will indeed have money at the deadline, the Preds would have to be way out of the playoffs before they would trade him period, much less to a division rival. That’s not to say the Wings don’t have an excellent chance at signing him as an UFA, especially seeing that this seems like Lidstrom’s last year, but it’s extremely far fetched to think we might nab him at this deadline. If anything, he’d likely head east.

I was almost sure that once his year is done in accordance with arbitration, he’ll be a UFA?

Posted by HockeytownOverhaul on 08/03/11 at 04:20 PM ET

Well, I certainly could be wrong. But a quick look around the net, I see Sean Fitz-Gerald at the National Post states the same thing: “With his one-year award, Weber is set to become a restricted free agent again next summer, while Suter and Rinne are both set to become unrestricted free agents.”

Hed’ still have to be given a qualifying offer though by his team or else he’d become UFA on Jul1? and qualifying offers have to reflect his current contract so they can’t say, here’s a 4mil 1 year deal. and retain his rigts, it has to be in line with his current contract, yes?

Weber is a very good defenseman, but he’s also somewhat overrated. Nashville plays very solid team defense, and I think it inflates the perceived value of a lot of players including Weber and Rinne. He had 8 goals and 19 points more than Cody Franson who was Nashville’s #6 and played 2nd unit PP, which shows Weber’s offense is by no means irreplaceable either. His real importance to Nashville comes down to his leadership and status.

With Nashville’s budgetary constraints in mind, they would do well to have only one outstanding all-around defensemen, and then fill out the rest of the defense with what could be considered as specialists, which would be less expensive and realistically just as valuable for team success. They’re in a pickle with the Suter and Weber situation. Negotiating an extension for just one of them would be hard enough, but trying to do both at the same time and getting the dominoes fall where they want them to fall, now that’s very difficult.

Hed’ still have to be given a qualifying offer though by his team or else he’d become UFA on Jul1? and qualifying offers have to reflect his current contract so they can’t say, here’s a 4mil 1 year deal. and retain his rigts, it has to be in line with his current contract, yes?

Posted by HockeytownOverhaul on 08/03/11 at 07:45 PM ET

Correct. I think for a contract of that value the qualifying offer is equal to the contract, so they would need to offer him $7.5 million to retain him for another year.

Essentially, Nashville has the next two years to convince Shea Weber that under the budgetary constraints the Predators have, they can promise him more than a chance to make the playoffs with toughness, grit, and scrappiness as well as their talent and hard work, and maybe, if everything falls just right and everyone is healthy and the matchups are in their favor, advance a round or two. He wants to have a chance to win four playoff rounds, not just one or two, and if Nashville can’t promise him that he will be gone.